August Was A Smashing Month For Women, From Olympics and Augusta to C-Suites and NFL Gridiron

Anne Doyle
, ContributorI write about making the leap from achiever to leader.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

What an incredible, barrier-busting month August has been for women POWERING UP! on all fronts, from Augusta National and Olympic pedestals to C-suites and the NFL gridiron. Here are the highlights, each of which will have long-term impact.

USA women not only won the gold in the relay, they shattered the old world record.

Augusta National: One of the last "good-old-boys only" holdouts, has FINALLY changed its long-standing "NO WOMEN" policy and invited its first two females to join the prestigious, private golf club. Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and business executive Darla Moore, once called "one of the toughest babes in business" by Fortune magazine. This is a stunning breakthrough, which immediately went viral and made headlines around the world. I have to believe that Ginny Rometty, CEO of IBM -- one of the primary sponsors of the Master's Golf Tournament -- played a key role behind the scenes in this breakthrough. Rometty is also a golfer -- I expect to see her invited to soon follow Rice and Moore into this coveted, business inner sanctum.

Female athletes at the Olympics -- It gave me goosebumps to watch the legacy of Title IX -- 40 years after its 1972 passage -- unfold before our eyes. Led by America's women -- who earned 58 medals -- 29 of them gold, compared to the American men's 45 medals, 15 gold. For the first time in Olympic history, there were more female athletes competing than males and every single participating country had at least one woman on its team.

The London Olympics will long be remembered as the breakthrough year when women athletes began to show the world what they can do. As TIME magazine put it in their "Wonder Women" coverage, "London exposed a fallacy: that women's sports are less gripping, less serious and less entertaining than men's. The women have made glorious the Summer Olympics."

The whistle and hat Shannon Eastin used for the historic game are headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

NFL's First Female Referee -- Shannon Eastin broke pro football's on-field gender barrier with class. Just as classy -- the San Diego Charger players and team president who recognized a historical moment when they saw it and welcomed her. The cap & whistle Eastin used for the game are going in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. What a difference from the late 70's and early 80's when I -- and other pioneering women sports reporters -- faced hostility, resistance and outrage when we fought for equal access (with our male colleagues) to locker rooms. Shows how far our culture has come!

Mayer is poised to shatter old images of how a CEO looks and lives!

Marissa Mayer Breaks the CEO Mold -- The former Google superstar, newly-chosen CEO of Yahoo and Mom-to-be is about to shatter every stereotype of how a cutting-edge, visionary business leader looks, acts and lives her life. I'm counting on her to pave the way for a whole new generation of female leaders who have every intention of "having it all" -- as generations of high-achieving men have taken for granted for themselves for centuries.

If you are as fascinated by these developments as I am, here are two interviews worth your time.

The Mayer blockbuster announcement and Anne Marie Slaughter's excellent, yet controversial Atlantic Magazine article, triggered a compelling conversation on Boston Public Radio (WGBH) on what's next for women striving for leadership roles.

And WJR Radio talked with me about the long-term impact these historic breakthroughs will have.

What more evidence do you need that we are moving into exciting, unchartered territory? Onward!

Anne Doyle is an Auburn Hills, Michigan City Councilwoman, a keynote speaker and the author of POWERING UP! How America’s Women Achievers Become Leaders. She has been tested in multiple-leadership laboratories, including men’s sports locker rooms, the auto industry, political office and parenting (which she insists is “the toughest!). Signed copies of her book are available at: www.annedoylestrategies.com;facebook.com/poweringupwomenbook.